‘Unleashing the Digital Premium’ for health in the public sector (UK)

February 26, 2020 | by

On Tuesday (25 Feb), the Good Governance Institute (GGI) and Legrand Assisted Living & Healthcare unveiled at an event in the House of Lords their report, ‘Unleashing the Digital Premium’. The study, which advocates digital technology to improve services, examines the challenges faced by housing, health and social care in supporting families and communities in enabling healthier independent lives. 

The GGI’s Jessica Lubin previewed the report (available from the Legrand website when you read this on Wednesday 26 February) in her blog. “The digital premium refers to the potential that digital technology has to deliver more cost effective, efficient and reliable services. It does this by preventing issues in the first place, by offering greater flexibility in the delivery of services, and by giving the recipients of these services more independence for longer.” This is contrasted to the current state of, as she terms it, “déjà vu despondency”, from rising demand from a growing aging population and pressure to ‘bend the cost curve’ as is often stated about healthcare costs in the US.

The report proposes that technology and digital services can aid in the delivery of care, and it is largely possible today. It examines the barriers, which are systemic, cultural or regulatory. System integration and cross-department/section/function coordination are absolutely necessary to facilitate better outcomes for these individuals and families. 

This Editor will review the report when available after Wednesday. Release. (Editor’s note: Legrand and Tynetec are long-time advertisers and supporters of TTA)

Themes and trends at Aging2.0 OPTIMIZE 2017

November 10, 2017 | by

Aging2.0 OPTIMIZE, in San Francisco on Tuesday and Wednesday 14-15 November, annually attracts the top thinkers and doers in innovation and aging services. It brings together academia, designers, developers, investors, and senior care executives from all over the world to rethink the aging experience in both immediately practical and long-term visionary ways.

Looking at OPTIMIZE’s agenda, there are major themes that are on point for major industry trends.

Reinventing aging with an AI twist

What will aging be like during the next decades of the 21st Century? What must be done to support quality of life, active lives, and more independence? From nursing homes with more home-like environments (Green House Project) to Bill Thomas’ latest project–‘tiny houses’ that support independent living (Minkas)—there are many developments which will affect the perception and reality of aging.

Designers like Yves Béhar of fuseproject are rethinking home design as a continuum that supports all ages and abilities in what they want and need. Beyond physical design, these new homes are powered by artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning technology that support wellness, engagement, and safety. Advances that are already here include voice-activated devices such as Amazon Alexa, virtual reality (VR), and IoT-enabled remote care (telehealth and telecare).

For attendees at Aging2.0, there will be substantial discussion on AI’s impact and implications, highlighted at Tuesday afternoon’s general session ‘AI-ging Into the Future’ and in Wednesday’s AI/IoT-related breakouts. AI is powering breakthroughs in social robotics and predictive health, the latter using sensor-based ADL and vital signs information for wellness, fall prevention, and dementia care. Some companies part of this conversation are CarePredict, EarlySense, SafelyYou, and Intuition Robotics.

Thriving, not surviving

Thriving in later age, not simply ‘aging in place’ or compensating for the loss of ability, must engage the community, the individual, and providers. There’s new interest in addressing interrelated social factors such as isolation, life purpose, food, healthcare quality, safety, and transportation. Business models and connected living technologies can combine to redesign post-acute care for better recovery, to prevent unnecessary readmissions, and provide more proactive care for chronic diseases as well as support wellness.

In this area, OPTIMIZE has many sessions on cities and localities reorganizing to support older adults in social determinants of health, transportation innovations, and wearables for passive communications between the older person and caregivers/providers. Some organizations and companies contributing to the conversation are grandPad, Village to Village Network, Lyft, and Milken Institute.

Technology and best practices positively affect the bottom line

How can senior housing and communities put innovation into action today? How can developers make it easier for them to adopt innovation? Innovations that ‘activate’ staff and caregivers create a multiplier for a positive effect on care. Successful rollouts create a positive impact on both the operations and financial health of senior living communities.

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Connected Health Summit 2017 San Diego — last chance to book!!

August 24, 2017 | by

29-31 August, The Omni Hotel, San Diego

[grow_thumb image=”https://telecareaware.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/07/CH17-Banner_20Discount_300x145.jpg” thumb_width=”200″ /]Starting tomorrow, but not too late to book! Take a trip to Southern California for the end of the traditional summer season (sob!). This year’s Connected Health Summit, organized by research organization Parks Associates, spotlights health technologies as part of the Internet of Things (IoT) and the transformational impact of these connected solutions on the US healthcare system. Presentations are organized around:

  • Remote health monitoring for accountable care
  • Consumer-centric wellness and fitness solutions
  • Independent living technologies and services, including reinventing home health
  • Innovative virtual/convenience care models

Keynoters include 

  • John W. Cosgriff, Chief Strategy Officer, UnitedHealthcare
  • Saquib Rahim MD, MBA, Chief Medical Officer, Aetna
  • Vidya Raman-Tangella, Senior Vice President, and Head, UHC Innovation Center of Excellence, UnitedHealth Group
  • Dale Rayman, Senior Vice President, Actuarial Consulting & Business Development, Sharecare
  • Chanin Wendling, AVP, Informatics, Geisinger Health System

Latest press release info on the conference and the convergence of connected health, IoT, and smart home is here.

For more information and to still save 20 percent, click on the Connected Health Summit’s link here. Telehealth & Telecare Aware is pleased once again to be a media supporter of CHS 2017. Twitter at #CONNHealth17

MedStartr’s ¡Viva La Evolución! evolves on Wed 5 April (NYC)

March 25, 2017 | by
[grow_thumb image=”https://telecareaware.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/11/MedStartr_red_grey_sm.jpg” thumb_width=”150″ /]After an intense and overflow attendance Hospital Innovation Programs Roundtable last Wednesday hosted by NYC’s largest urgent care, CityMD, and with eight speaker/panelists from Mount Sinai, NY-Presbyterian, Northwell, and Startup61/Melbourne Australia Health Accelerator, what could be better than doing it again in two weeks?

Wednesday 5 April’s MedStartr/Health 2.0 NYC presentation on healthcare’s evolution will be a little more relaxed with three panelists so far, but they are rare ‘gets’: Greg Downing, DO is the Executive Director of Innovation at the US Department of Health & Human Services (HHS), an institution much in the news with Federal changes in healthcare. Jay Parkinson, MD, MPH developed the first commercial cloud-based EHR, Hello Health, back in 2008 and founded his current telemedicine company, Sherpaa Health, five years ago. Rich Park, MD is both host and the founder-CEO of CityMD. All have different views of how healthcare is evolving, so it should be both an interesting and full evening. It begins at 6 and wraps up at 9pm, with plenty of networking time.

Tickets are $35. Advance reservations are required due to building security. Ticketing is being done through the Meetup Group Health 2.0 NYC here. If you are not a member, please email MedStartr directly at members@Medstartr.com.

Videos are now online for the 22 March Hospital Innovations program and 1 March’s Rise of the Healthy Machines (#RISE2017). The latter includes keynotes, panels, and the six pitches for the Challenge. December’s #MedMo16 is also online.

TTA is a MedStartr and Health 2.0 NYC supporter/media sponsor since 2010; Editor Donna is a host for this event and a MedStartr Mentor. Check the MedStartr page to find and fund some of the most interesting startup ideas in healthcare.

The big show begins: HIMSS 2016

February 27, 2016 | by
[grow_thumb image=”https://telecareaware.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/02/HIMSS-2016.png” thumb_width=”150″ /]Now that Mobile World Congress, which increasingly features mobile healthcare tech like International CES, is wrapping, probably the world’s largest healthcare oriented conference, HIMSS, will be kicking off on Monday the 29th in Fabulous Las Vegas. ‘Connected health’ and security is a part of it, along with its traditional emphasis on HIT and traditional devices. If you are going, you’ve likely made your arrangements months ago. There’s a lot of guides out there on making the most of the conference, but this Editor recommends Roberta Mullins’ quick guide to HIMSS highlights in HIE Answers. For the fun parts of HIMSS and a link to the HIMSS16 mobile app, here’s Roberta again, plus HealthcareITNews’ roundup (though the chapter events are sold out).

We’ll be noting the news from our New York perch. If you have news, insights or comments you’d like to see here (objective and not promotional), please email this Editor. (These will be used at editorial discretion.) TTA has been for years a media partner of HIMSS Connected Health Conference/mHealth Summit (which, rumor has it, will happily be returning to December this year). 

Upcoming will be the other US ‘big show’ in telehealth and telemedicine, ATA 2016, 14-17 May in Minneapolis, where we again are media partners. More on ATA in coming weeks!

 

Tunstall to demo mHealth Down Under at Connect Expo

April 15, 2015 | by
[grow_thumb image=”https://telecareaware.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/07/Big-T-thumb-480×294-55535.gif” thumb_width=”150″ /]Breaking from our HIMSS coverage, Australia takes its turn in technology mega-events with the Connect Expo next week, 21-22 April, in Melbourne. It features one expo and 11 conferences, including the Future Health Summit covering telehealth, big data, analytics, wearables and robotics. Featured are speakers Tim Kelsey from NHS England and Dr George Margelis. Reports indicate that sponsor Tunstall will be debuting its mymobile telehealth app, which ties into their Integrated Care Platform, and the myCareTrack app, a mobile safety solution meant for lone workers, including health professionals on in-home patient care visits. The Tunstall website in its release also has presentation times.  Pulse+IT (Australasia) (Returning to the US, we note that Tunstall was absent from HIMSS, and will also be from ATA2015 where they have been a major sponsor in the past. And we wonder how things are developing with mHealth platform designer Tactio.) Hat tip to Guy Dewsbury via Twitter

TripleTree ‘Viewpoint’ on hospital of the future

June 24, 2014 | by

Healthcare investment bank and advisor TripleTree has produced a ‘Viewpoint’ report on ‘the hospital of the future’, examining the proposition that the place for delivery of even acute care may not be a hospital at all due to health tech, robotics and architectural innovation (this last hearkening to TTA 22 April). “High-quality healthcare is frequently described as delivering the right care to the right person at the right time in the right place. This report focuses on the right place. It describes the ongoing evolution of healthcare real estate and offers realistic insight to the characteristics of the hospital of the future.” And rather than hospitals becoming more hotel-like, hotels may become post-surgery ‘home health’ centers. Many other intriguing possibilities in this Report (free download).

mHealth Summit 2013: Sunday Venture+ Forum

December 10, 2013 | by

Lois Drapin, Founder & CEO of The Drapin Group, provides a recap of the Venture+ Forum held the day before the official start of the mHealth Summit 2013. This is the first of her dispatches, courtesy of HIT Consultant.

[grow_thumb image=”https://telecareaware.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/12/mooc1.png” thumb_width=”150″ /]Yes, it’s true. Sunday’s Venture+ Forum, one of the day-long events that takes place before the official start of the mHealth Summit 2013, was a lot like living Gartner’s Hype Cycle in one day. Before I tell you why, let me first offer my sincere apologies to Gartner Inc. (I’ll reference the Gartner methodology in underlined italics). Absolutely no offense is meant, but this borrowed framework could be the assist I need at 1 a.m. to offer up my POV.

Keynote Speaker: Jack Young, Director of Qualcomm Ventures

The day began with Jack Young, Director of Qualcomm Ventures and head of the Qualcomm Life Fund. He talked about trends that we should all know by now— the rising costs of healthcare (at $8K per human per capita, health is the most expensive subscription in our home); the aging population (a company in Japan reported that it had sold more adult diapers than baby diapers this past year). Qualcomm sees the Technology Trigger in the emergence of wearables or “mini working computers” and with big data in health such as claims data, EMR data, genomic data, consumer and social data. The wearables industry is emerging, having come into our lives connected to our smartphones. In this way, if you will, our social-ness is changing too. When you wear a wearable (watch, glasses, shoe, shirt, pin—whatever item(s) we choose), we are more likely to accept that “I’m on the journey” to health, wellness and well-being. We’re involving our friends, families and co-workers. The data that is, or will be coming from our use of wearables and other sources, will give us meaningful insights that can change behavior and health outcomes. It sounds a bit like ‘Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds’, yet who doesn’t love an investor with ‘California Dreamin’’ on his mind. I know I do.

But I already could feel the climb toward the Peak of Inflated Expectations. It really didn’t seem too far away or too high up. (more…)

Engaging with aging tech

November 5, 2013 | by

LeadingAge, the main association for non-profit ‘aging services’ providers, hosted a ‘hackathon’ of sorts called HackFest at its annual convention last week. Eight international teams of students were given a 24 hour challenge to come up with an idea and create a prototype application, device or website. The winner was Team Global EngAge who developed a platform for retirement communities to offer their activities–book clubs, religious services and clubs–online so that home-bound elderly can participate via video conferencing. The purpose of the hackathon was to focus on technology needs in senior services and was sponsored by investor Ziegler and Asbury Communities. Unfortunately neither McKnights or LeadingAge list or explore the seven other concepts, which would have been interesting as all these teams can look to further develop and fund their ideas.

Is ‘disruption’ the dog that didn’t bark?

September 13, 2013 | by

Is the disruption in healthcare that we think is going on, have been told is going on, make assumptions on, not really on? This is the contrarian argument posited by Dan Munro:

  • Training of doctors, supply and demand is as it was. Training of US doctors is expensive, and doctors tend to go to the better paid specialties in order to pay down education debt faster. And patient demand for acute procedures will always outstrip doctor supply.
  • Squeezing down the small stuff doesn’t radically impact demand. In the US we have been pounding down insurers (6 percent) and low-acuity/primary care, but ignoring the heavy spend on hospitals (31 percent) and clinical services (20 percent).  Are the big slices of the pie resistant or too controversial to cut?
  • Startups aren’t a good source of disruption.  (more…)